Helping adults with disabilities and their families plan, support and sustain new ways of living in their community

CIF was founded by Kay Branz and Jane Doyle in Evanston, Illinois, in 2002.

Kay and Jane came together out of a shared experience raising daughters with developmental disabilities. They met over 20 years ago and together navigated the school system, advocating for programs and experiences that would help prepare their daughters for the world beyond high school.

Because of the lack of services in Illinois, the founders of CIF decided they needed to create ways to obtain needed services themselves. They searched to uncover best practices and services that support families and individuals with disabilities.

Since its founding, CIF has worked closely with a non-profit organization in Massachusetts called Toward Independent Living and Learning (TILL) and has become very familiar with TILL’s model that enables individuals with disabilities to become active, contributing citizens and live independently within their chosen community.

Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) in Canada introduced CIF to Personal Networks, a service designed to enable individuals with disabilities to sustain their quality of life.

In addition, faculty at Northwestern University helped develop a process to organize interested families to work together to creatively solve issues that individuals with disabilities face.

Jane Doyle continues to serve as CIF’s Executive Director and has assembled a dedicated team made up of the board of directors, staff, professional support, family partners, corporate sponsors and foundations and private financial supporters that help CIF with its rapid expansion of services.

In its six-year existence, CIF has passed many significant organizational milestones. It now supports individuals in four Evanston residences and serves more than 100 individuals annually.